NIHR Career Development Opportunities: Expanding Research Careers in Health and Care

Research is transforming healthcare delivery and patient outcomes across the UK. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has significantly invested in expanding research opportunities for health and care professionals at all career stages. This blog post outlines the range of NIHR career development pathways now available, with a particular focus on recent expansions designed to include previously under-served disciplines.

A Collective Strategic Vision

The National Maternity and Midwifery Strategy, Making Research Matter – Chief Nursing Officer for England’s Strategic Plan for Research, The Allied Health Professions (AHPs) Strategy for England and the NIHR’s strategy called “Best Research for Best Health – The Next Chapter” emphasise several shared goals:

• Making research everyone's business
• Funding and undertaking research that matters
• Ensuring career opportunities reach all eligible health and care professionals
• Maximising opportunities for patients and populations to participate in research

As part of the government's investment in NIHR career opportunities, one of the seven strategic focus areas of the NIHR is "Strengthening careers for research delivery staff and under-represented disciplines and specialisms". This includes nurses, midwives and allied health professionals and has led to a comprehensive support package that widens eligibility, increases funding for existing programmes, and invests in new initiatives to drive meaningful change in research careers for Health and Care Professionals.

New and Expanded Opportunities

NIHR INSIGHT Programme

Launched in September 2024, this annual scheme aims to attract students and recent graduates into research careers. The programme has three main components:

• National engagement events and activities 
• Innovative engagement programs showcasing the full range of research careers
• Research master's Studentships with 30 places available across 12 regions

This programme is open to students in early career stages in registered healthcare, social work, and public health professions, including undergraduate and postgraduate students. The scheme does not fund doctors or dentists as these professions are funded through other programmes. Students apply for this programme through the host universities listed on this page. You can find the regional INSIGHT programme contact details here. 

NIHR Next Generation Internship Programmes: Four New Pathways

Starting September 2025, NIHR will significantly expand its internship offerings from 100 to 300 per annum. These short-duration awards are designed for individuals with limited research experience and will provide taught and academically supervised components to expose interns to the research environment. The programme will cover salary costs for internship days and will be available to all healthcare professionals who have, or aspire to have, research as part of their work.

This includes individuals working in clinical/practice settings who want to develop their research leadership skills, those working in research delivery and/or those wishing to pursue clinical academic careers. Interns can choose from the following:

"Stepping into Research" 

• For clinical/practice professionals with little or no research experience
• Provides professional development, education and training to explore ways of incorporating research into professional practice
• Outcomes include building research capacity in the wider workforce and implementing small-scale improvements

"Growing in Research"

• For clinical/practice professionals with research delivery experience or those in teaching-only HEI roles
• Focuses on integrating research into everyday work and fostering culture change
• Aims to increase confidence in applying research skills within provider organisations

"Delivery Leadership in Research"

• For individuals engaged in delivering studies on the NIHR portfolio
• Develops leadership skills through specific initiatives like establishing new research environments
• Complements other development opportunities such as Principal Investigator programmes

"Clinician/Practitioner Academic Leading Research"

• For those exploring careers combining research leadership with continued professional practice
• Provides research training for NIHR/similar funding applications
• Develops practical skills and support networks for planning research projects

NIHR Undergraduate Internship Programme

This recently introduced programme engages students from underrepresented professions in the early stages of their academic studies. Early to mid-career researchers can apply to host up to three interns who will gain hands-on experience through fully funded and flexible placements.

Clinician Researcher Credentials Framework

This framework, developed jointly by NIHR and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, aims to develop experience and expertise to grow future local research leadership capability within the NHS. It offers PGCert, PGDip, and Master's-level qualifications, with bursaries for 120 PGCert and 140 Masters students per annum. The framework focuses on practical elements of clinical research delivery through online modules and supervised research practice experiences.

Development and Skills Enhancement (DSE) Scheme

This expanded scheme supports postdoctoral researchers in making their next career step by gaining new skills and experience. Key changes include:

• Now open to all healthcare professionals within 5 years of PhD completion
• Expanded to offer up to 60 additional awards per annum
• Increased duration up to 2 years (previously 1 year)
• No longer restricted to previous NIHR doctoral fellows
• Support for broader research skills development, including leadership

Expanded In-Practice Fellows

This pre-doctoral scheme, traditionally only open to GPs and General Dental Practitioners, is now available to a wider range of clinical professions. This link goes to Round 18, which is currently closed, but the guidance notes will be helpful. A quick Google search may lead you to the next open Round.

Grant Funding Development Opportunities

Application Development Awards

These awards provide up to £150k to develop high-quality, fundable applications and aim to grow healthcare professional research leaders in clinical, social care, and academic settings.

Research for Patient Benefit Programme

This programme features targeted calls for underrepresented professions as lead applicants, with opportunities to co-lead with Early Career Researchers. Recent calls have focused on Nurses & Midwives, Methodologists, Allied Health Professionals, Pharmacists, and Healthcare Scientists.

Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research (SCPR) Awards

These awards are aimed at postdoctoral clinicians and practitioners, including HEI staff, to support the career development of research-active individuals. The awards provide up to 5 years of funding for 20-50% protected time to cover salary, training, and development, with up to 75 awards per annum.

Profession-Specific Programmes

• Senior Research Leader programme: 0.4 FTE for 3 years with annual intake

• PI Pipeline Programme (PIPP): The Principal Investigator Pipeline Programme (PIPP) offers research delivery NMAHPs the opportunity to develop as Principal Investigators on NIHR portfolio studies.

• Social care researcher development programme: Launching April 2025

• Developing Research Leaders Programme for Allied Health Professionals: launched in March 2025

Conclusion

The NIHR has significantly expanded its research career development opportunities for health and care professionals at all career stages. These initiatives aim to make research more accessible, improve organisational research cultures, and ensure that traditionally under-served professions can engage meaningfully in research activities.

For more information, contact the NIHR Nursing and Midwifery team at nursingandmidwifery@nihr.ac.uk or visit https://www.nihr.ac.uk/health-and-care-professionals/professions/nurses-and-midwives/.

The content of this blog post was originally presented by Professor Cathy Henshall, Professor of Nursing at Oxford Brookes University and Oxford Health NHS FT, NIHR Associate Director of Nursing and Midwifery